Party, Party, Party

This weekend was pretty much non stop action, as my fairly messy house and dirty laundry can attest too.  It all started off at church yesterday where we were happy to see our friends the Reeves who were in town for some of the action.  Last night was the annual (10th annual to be exact although I've only been at about the last five or six) PumpkinFest party at the Isidros.  We decided to take all the kids this year since they had to babysitters at the party and we were able to just drop the girls off with them upstairs where the proceeded to have an awesome time making crafts, playing games, etc.  Brady stayed downstairs with us but Yully was so kind to take him for most of the evening so I was able to participate in the festivities, which, being a game lover, I was very happy about.  As usual, we were to bring a pumpkin or squash themed food item.  My selection this year was pumpkin seed cherry trail mix.  It was sort of an nontraditional selection on my part, and I knew I probably wasn't going to win anything for it, but it was something I wanted to eat myself so I went for it.  It turned out very well and I plan to make more.  If you would like to try the recipe, click here.  Incidentally, I used regular pumpkin seeds (great way to use up seeds if you carve a pumpkin) and not the baby ones listed in the recipe (too expensive).  Also, someone had commented that it was really good if you add cayenne pepper.  I did to a little of it and it was most excellent but I figured it would be too "spicy" for kids so I left that out.  

Walking into church

Craft time

So no, I didn't win any awards but I was really excited that Tiffany won the dessert category with her pecan cheesecake something or other and then Yully, who made a cake from scratch that looked just like a pumpkin, was the grand prize winner.  I'm glad we kept it in the family!  My partner and I won a couple of the games so I wasn't a complete loser.  Ha!  Anyway, Allen and Adam did a great job with all the games as they usually do and as I usually do, I plan to steal a few of them.  A great time was had by all and it was about 10:30 when I retrieved the girls from upstairs so we could get jammies on and head out.  As Aubree comes downstairs she says to me "When is the party starting?"  I said "Aubree!  This was the party."  And she says "Oh."  

Planking

Yully's winning pumpkin cake

Noah, Calleigh, & Braelyn

Calleigh, Noah, and Braelyn (on the same couch, I think)

Ponytails are out = party is over.

This morning was our usual First Watch outing, then a rush home so I could get some presents put together, feed Brady, give Duncan a few instructions, and then rush out the door to a tea room in Altamonte for Stacy Litzenberger's Bachelorette party.  She's getting married next month to an Australian Shepherd.  She made that joke herself so I think I'm allowed to use it.  She's actually marrying a guy from Australia who's name is Adrian Shepherd.  Makes for a great joke.  This was my first time going somewhere for more than about 30 minutes without Brady so it was a nice few hours to just be with the ladies.  Meanwhile, Duncan had all three kids and took them to a nearby park where he met up with Cory and boys Noah and Jacob.  This included a lunch for the girls because our next party was at 2 in Altamonte and I didn't want to go all the way home and then all the way back.  I quickly fed Brady in the van and then it was off to the birthday party for Kenny and Maddox.  Duncan had work to do so he went home.  It is a bit of a challenge with the three kiddos, mainly because at various points you're incapacitated by a nursing baby.  But also, the girls didn't get into bed until at least 11 last night and now they weren't getting a nap because of the party.  Aubree did fall asleep in the car for a few minutes fortunately.  

Stacy

For the most part all went well...up until I heard a splash and then some crying.  Turns out Calleigh had fallen into the swimming pool.  Now, obviously she can swim so it's not a major panic but I think she was so shocked that it had happened that it scared the wits out of her (not to mention the water is getting pretty chilly) and she freaked out.  She was fully clothed too so I'm sure that didn't help.  That took a good 10 minutes for her to calm down.  At that point, I had to just dress her in her bathing suit since I didn't have a change of clothes.  Anyway, other than a few whines from Aubree, we had very nice time.

Richard was kind enough to hold Brady for awhile.

Deep discussion with the birthday boy, Kenny

Wiped out at 5:30 this afternoon.

Getting to Brady...I did hear back on some of the test results.  Unfortunately, the doctor who called me could not speak English very well at all and I had the worst time understanding what he was saying not to mention that he was speaking in complete doctor jargon a mile a minute.  I was nursing Brady, too, so I couldn't get a hand free to write anything down or really concentrate.  Very frustrating.  First off, the results for the sweat test for cystic fibrosis had not come back yet.  That was disappointing since obviously I'm very interested in what that one says.  The blood work did come back and it showed that he had been exposed to mono but not recently.  Apparently he didn't or doesn't have it but was only exposed to it.  I really don't know what that means.  The x-ray showed that he had some inflammation in the lungs but the meds he's been taking were able to fight off any pneumonia or influenza from starting.  This was the jist of what I was able to understand but who knows, I could be way off.  The bottom line is that he said there isn't anything different we should be doing and they will see him again at his already scheduled follow up appointment on November 1.   The doctor who saw him for his appointment spoke English so I'm hoping she'll be the one to call with the sweat test results or if not, I'll try and talk to her so I can really understand what is going on.  We have finished with the five days of the oral steroids and I don't think I've seen a noticeable difference.  We have, at least, come to the realization that he seems much worse in the morning as far as coughing and wheezing then in the evenings.   

Oh, I just realized that I didn't even mention about how he went to have all these test on Thursday.  So yes, Thursday morning I took him in at 7:45 to have the sweat test.  Duncan stayed home with the girls and then dropped them off at Ron & Elaine's on his way to work.  Thank goodness for them.  Honestly, I just have to say I have the best in-laws.  Thank you guys!  Anyway, for the sweat test they rubbed something on one leg and then put two electrode thingys on his leg which is supposed to stimulate his sweat glands.  They let that run for five minutes (it doesn't hurt) and then she taped a piece of gauze to that spot in hopes of collecting .75 (not sure what the measurement is) of sweat to test.  I then had to try to keep him warm so he would sweat.  I thought they would put us in some warm room and give me a bunch of blankets, which is how it was described to me on the phone when I made the appointment.  Instead, we were sent back to the sitting area and I had to use my own one dinky blanket.  I was feeling pretty discouraged about getting a good result but when she took the gauze after the 30 minutes, she said she got .78.  Just made it.  Of course, the non-English speaking doctor was saying something about needing .90 so maybe it wasn't enough in the end. I guess we'll find out.  

From there, we went back to the lab area to get his blood drawn which ended up being four vials.  Quite a lot!  The lab tech said he had a great vein (better than some adults) and it went very smoothly.  Of course, he did cry but it wasn't too bad.  Last but not least, he had the chest x-ray.  We had already had one of those before so we knew what to expect...no big deal.  

He tried his exersaucer for the first time this week and loves it.  Can't you tell?

I finally pumped for the first time this past week.  I hate pumping.  But I forced myself to do it.  I figured it would be problematic giving a baby a bottle for the first time at four months of age and sure enough, he wanted no part of it.  But, I persisted.  The next day I tried again and it may not have been pretty, but he drank it.  Now I need to just stick with giving him one from time to time so he doesn't forget.  

Ummm, no thanks, Dad.  Why buy the bottle when you can get the real thing for free...or something like that.

Since it is now 11:44 pm and we have big plans tomorrow, a field trip to a worm farm of all places, I will end here.  Oh, I did want to mention something about Calleigh's dreams though.  She'll occasionally have nightmares and typically they'll be about lions or bears or something of that nature.  It's not often but when it does happen she'll cry out in her room and I'll go in there.  I let her bring her sleeping bag onto the floor in my room and she quickly goes back to sleep.  One morning after she had come into my room during the night I asked her what her bad dream was about and she said "Oh no.  I didn't have a bad dream.  I just THOUGHT I was going to have a bad dream."  So apparently it was a preemptive move if you will.  Then another night, after her reporting a bad dream, I asked what it was about.  I was expecting her usual response of a lion but imagine my surprise when she told me, "I dreamed that Jesus came and we weren't ready."  That, from a 4-year old.